Nigerian weightlifter, Chika Amalaha who was stripped of a
Commonwealth Games gold medal for doping when she was 16 years old,
has tested positive again.
According to reports, she now faces an eight-year ban from the sport.
Amalaha, whose sample showed traces of steroids, is the third Nigerian
woman to have twice tested positive in recent years – all of them
continental champions.
The past seven Nigerian doping violations announced by the
International Weightlifting federation (IWF) are all female, and there
are two cases yet to be closed, also women. Amalaha, 22, made her
three best career totals in her past three competitions and was all
but certain of a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the 55kg
category.
She won this year’s African Championships, was second at the recent
All-African Games, and finished 12th at the 2018 IWF World
Championships, where she posed at the IWF’s “Lift Clean” display and
posted a photo on Instagram.
Elizabeth Onuah, 24, was suspended for eight years in 2015 and
disqualified from first place at the All-African Games of that year,
having already been banned as a 15-year-old for doping. In June this
year, Balikis Otunla, 25, a continental champion at 75kg and 81kg,
came up positive for steroids for the second time, having been
suspended for two years in 2012. Amalaha was disqualified at the
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games when she tested positive for masking
agents and banned for two years.
Her positive sample is believed to be from the All-African Games in
Morocco in August, where the Egypt team landed in so much trouble.
